Selling Lionel Messi Would Be ‘Financially Desirable’ For Barcelona, Interim President Says

Speculations have been rife over Barcelona captain Lionel Messi’s future ever since the football celebrity revealed his desire to leave the club this summer. Disagreements over his contract forced Messi to backtrack on those plans, and the club’s bosses insisted they would do everything to persuade the forward to finish his career in Barca.

FC Barcelona interim president Carles Tusquets has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Lionel Messi’s plans that he voiced in the summer to part ways with the club, writes Goal.

Tusquets, who took over after Josep Bartomeu and the board of directors resigned in late October in the wake of worsening finances, the club’s failure to win a trophy last season and a reported falling-out with Messi, has told Catalan radio station RAC1 that financially speaking, selling the Argentine would have been the wise move.

However, the remark didn’t go down well with Barca boss Ronald Koeman, when he was asked to comment on Friday.

Tusquets attempted to tone down his original comments about Barca’s all-time top scorer.

“I didn’t say that I would’ve sold Messi; I said that, financially, him leaving would have been good for the club,” he told Catalunya Radio.

In summer, Messi, who plays as a forward and captains both Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team made the headlines when he asked to leave the only club he’s ever known as a professional. The move came in the wake of the club’s first trophy-less season since 2007-2008.

​At the time, Messi believed he could break with Barcelona for free despite having a year to run on his contract.
However, the wording in his deal evidently meant that the free-exit clause had expired in June, and Bartomeu signalled that Messi could not leave.

Eventually the saga ended with the winner of a record six Ballon d’Or awards staying on with the club to avoid a court dispute.

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, FC Barcelona, like many clubs, has been struggling financially, announcing in early October $118 million in losses for last season. The first-team personnel have been taking pay cuts, and new signings have only been possible if there was a corresponding outgoing move, writes the outlet.

Messi’s contract now expires at the end of this season, leaving him eligible to reach a pre-contract agreement with another club as soon as this January.

First workout of the day Lionel Messi

Amid the persisting rumors and speculation, one of the leading candidates to become Barcelona’s next president, Joan Laporta, was cited as saying he would make keeping Messi at Barcelona a priority.

“I speak with him regularly, we have contact, but I haven’t talked to him for a long time. To talk about his renewal, I need to have the authority of the presidency to make him a proposal I can fulfill,” Laporta said in a separate Catalan radio interview, adding:

 

Sourse: sputniknews.com

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